Mike Woods, an executive with High Valley Farms near Basalt, tries to assure nearby residents that the stinky pot smell will be fixed soon. Woods heard the neighbors' complaints Wednesday at a Pitkin County commissioners meeting. Mike Woods, an executive with High Valley Farms near Basalt, tries to assure nearby residents that the stinky pot smell will be fixed soon. Woods heard the neighbors' complaints Wednesday at a Pitkin County commissioners meeting. (Rick Carroll, The Aspen Times)

Skunk-like odors wafting from a Basalt-area marijuana cultivation facility have upset nearby neighbors and caused county commissioners to issue a stern warning to the proprietors behind the stench.

At a Pitkin County commissioners meeting Wednesday, residents said the smell is negatively affecting their quality of life, and their understanding was there would be no odor when commissioners approved the High Valley Farms facility, which includes a 20,000-square-foot grow house and 5,000-square-foot office building, in August 2013. The grow center opened last year.

“When you step outside, it’s like you’re stepping into a bag of weed,” said resident Bart Axelman, saying he’s “in no way opposed” to the industry in which High Valley is engaged. “Six months ago our neighborhood smelled like a neighborhood, and now it smells like someone is holding up a package of marijuana to your face.”

Mike Woods, chief operating officer of High Valley, assured commissioners that steps are being done to eliminate the current stench.

“We are going to manage the odors there, and we don’t want people to have a neighborhood that’s any different than the neighborhood they moved into,” he said. “We’re committed to making it work. We have a lot of investment in it.”